Amanita

*Skims the PVP-stuff*

Leaked video of a staff fighting powerset? Where? I must see!
(Seriously, I've been wanting this since day one!)

I'm hoping we'll get the IDF chest detail too, it's one of the pieces I wanted most from that set. The defense set looks like something I might use under other pieces of armor, more for mix and matching than being used on its own.

Other than those quibbles, issue 21 looks awesome, can't wait to play with it.

So far this is looking pretty cool! I can't wait to see more, or learn more about the new characters we'll be meeting here.
And does anyone else notice that one of the towers looks like the short and stocky lovechild of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings? Seriously, it's got Chrysler's famous protruding gargoyles, and its spire appears to be modeled after that of the Empire State.
But seriously, the buildings look amazingly well done, kudos!

I'm a little disappointed that polearm/staff melee isn't the powerset mentioned. But titan weapons still sounds cool, although I would like to see a few realistic weapon models thrown in with the huge anime-style swords and other weapons. Perhaps a true zwiehander or two handed claymore? Perhaps make one of those the "vanguard version" with glowing blade?

Perhaps give us something like this?


Or this?


Or how about this? Anyone think an oversized glowing Vanguard version would rock?


Bear in mind that these weapons ARE considerably bigger than the hand-and-a-half swords that the current broadsword set uses.
Throwing in some more lifelike huge blades along with the great big anime/hulk-style stuff would definitely give us more options- those who want the hulk look can have it, while those who want something a little more realistic can have some goodies too.

Bought it! Gonna go play with it soon! If the art team takes our feedback into consideration, this thing will be even more awesome!
I am SO tempted to make a John Roebling toon to go with my Brooklyn Bridge!

I'm hoping the recipes will be cheaper than hero merits..Hero merits cost 20 mill a piece to convert, and it takes about 20 days to get enough for one purple recipe.

I'm hoping the new auras aren't incarnate only, and are account-wide unlocked..I love the look of the incarnate costume pieces, and am glad that it's an account-wide unlock, but it kinda sucks that only level 50s can wear these.

As for the aura and cape tokens, it sounds like those allow us to bypass the aura and cape missions. If so, cool! And if they are accessable through in game email, does that mean I can send them to friends?

I'm also happy with the new pet choices- perhaps I will wait before crafting the pets for my latest incarnate, as some of the new choices sound cool!

I just loved Bass Ackward's elvin character on the first page. Looks like I'll be playing a fun game of mix-and-match with these steampunk parts and the martial arts booster, which a lot of my characters like to use.
I see a lot of mix and match potential for some of these pieces.

If they would just port that baron-esque coat over to the ladies, I would be completely happy. Other than that one concern, I love this, and WANT!
I've got several characters who will use the new pinstriped pants, and I'm sure I'll find lots of uses for the other parts for a fun game of mix-and-match as well.
I can't wait to get my paws on this!

I want more proliferation- A mace or axe scrapper would be sweet!
More free costume sets- whole sets, not just patterns.
More powerset customization would also be sweet.

^Pretty much yes to what was said above. Given my 4-nights-on, 4-off shift rotation, I'm gonna miss all of this. Yes, I could use the cheat where I leave my computer on running CoH with a character left in-mission, but that's no fun!
I was hoping this would be like the rikti invasion events- with those, you don't have to be online on only one day, at pretty much any time during the event, you can log in, and if you're patient, a zone invasion will pop up somewhere. Instead, it's just a one-time-only thing

Yeah, I guess you can color me disappointed in this one

So I was able to get my credit card back onto my account, and bought several more slots on Virtue Even though it was full price, I also got a server transfer for a character I made on freedom, but later wished I had made on virtue.

I can buy booster packs in the NC store no problem, as the NC store accepts paypal.
I do wish that the NC store would offer the ability to buy server transfer or character slot tokens and apply them to our accounts as an upgrade or something, for those who prefer to use paypal.

Is it possible to obtain character transfers or server slots without a credit card? When my old card expired last year and I got my new one, I tried to add it to my game account, but for some reason it wouldn't work. So I went to using paypal to pay for game time and costume booster packs, with no problems. Now I would like to take advantage of the sale on character slots, but I don't see an option for buying those in the NC online store. And unfortunately the only way to purchase them in-game seems to be a credit card.

So do I have to cancel my paypal billing and try to add my credit card again?
Unless there's something under account management on the plaync website that I missed, it sucks that a credit card is the only way to buy transfers or character slots. Especially since we can use paypal for everything else.

I wish they would give us a version of the Warrior belt from the martial arts booster that could be worn with things other than robes. That would look sweet paired with a baggy top and samurai or roman chest detail armor, for a robes+armor look that we currently can't get.

I would love to have the Rikti cape as an option, I know several characters would use it.
Likewise, the option to wear waist capes, in fortunata style, for men and women. (BTW, could we please get the buttcapes for male widows? Lack of that costume piece is why I turned my male widow into a female- the costume seemed lacking without it)
I also want the sybil-style robes, even if those have to be a paid-for option, due to the extra capes used.

Any San Francisco residents probably remember the sad tale of the Cosco Busan. I made a character based on her- she's basically an avatar of the vessel. She uses DA as her secondary, colored to resemble water.
She's pretty much figured out how to use water, and its spiritual essence to protect and heal herself, having been blessed by the ocean spirits after she declared her intention to atone for the accident she was involved in, by becoming a hero, seeking to punish the truly guilty.
That character's gonna have a real Hate-On for Crey and the Devouring Earth once she's leveled up some more.

I wish we could get some options for the bird head, for a two toned look. Perhaps something like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...BL4F7621-2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rineFalcon.jpg

There's a number of birds with similar two-toned head coloring, where the top and sides of the head are one color, and the underside is a different one, together with the feathers on the animal's chest.

We could use a few of these in IP and possibly Sharkhead or somewhere else redside:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/...099f0d_b_d.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/...3455fc_b_d.jpg

As it is now, the cranes in those zones look nothing like actual marine terminal cranes- they don't even look like they would function at all in real life.
If we want the look of a realistic port, we could use a few of the cranes featured above. Heck, we could even have some fun putting Family mobs up there trying to intimidate longshoremen, or something along those lines.

As for skyscrapers, we could use some like these:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/...5b808d_b_d.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...74a5dd_b_d.jpg
Some nice, modern ones to go with the art deco towers we've got.

At night, is there any way to make some of the zones look anywhere near as cool as this when we look at them?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5084/...397cca_b_d.jpg

I'll finish this by asking just what the heck is up with the northernmost of the two suspension bridges in IP? The darn thing's supposedly the twin of the other bridge, but it only has one tower. Huh?

I'm exited about this one too- the two new incarnate/level 50 TFs sound sweet, albeit challenging. But then again, I remember ITFs being hard at one point- namely the end battle against Rommie. Now we pretty much curbstomp the poor guy like some sad-sack pushover.

I also like the level 20-40 TF and SF. Hey, the lower level folk need something new and cool to play with too!

I'm hoping for new costume parts, and other goodies. But I'm not ranting and raving yet- this IS just the first release, after all. I'm sure more will be forthcoming. After all, I remember I11, when dual blades was announced first. I remember a lot of people complaining about the default sabers that were shown in the screenshots, how they didn't like the look of the swords, and so on. It was only later that one of the issue's biggest (and coolest) goodies was announced- weapon customization!
So who knows what hasn't been revealed yet?

The only thing that concerns me is the switch from incarnate shards to incarnate threads in order to craft the next incarnate slot- it seems that we already have a few too many in-game currencies to collect and monitor.

Like I said, he was not clear whether he wanted or was offering inf. I've seen people offering inf to teammates- usually to either help lowbies out, or to help them playtest missions- the inf being a compensation for time and help, since you don't get ticket drops or xp for running in test mode.
And this was the first time since bridging/padding ended that I had personally run into anybody wanting money to join their team.

I admit, until now I've been something of an invention refusenik- just not terribly interested. But now I've got a couple of level 50's that I'm working through the incarnate slots with, and I'm looking at ways to make them better and stronger, including IO's.

So here's a question for those in the know in these affairs- if you want to get a set of purple IO's for a character, what are some good ways to do it as cheaply as possible?
One character is a Katana/WP scrapper, the other is Dual blades/WP.

Yeah, I was on freedom, go figure. If we ever get free transfers again, I'm moving that character over to Virtue, she would be right at home.

I've played on a lot of farm teams, when I was stuck at a certain level and having a hard time finding teams, I wanted to quickly get a few levels on a lowbie, or was just bored and wanted xp. And this is the first time somebody's ever tried to charge me for it.
I actually find it pretty funny- it's not like the guy has his own private uber-leet farm map that ONLY he can access, and charge the rest of us for. Nooo. Anyone can play that same mission with their difficulty cranked up high enough, and the help of a decent team. So why pay for something when odds are, somebody else will offer it for free?

And LMFAO at that guy wanting people to pay him 200 million inf JUST for the privelege of having him on a LGTF. Really? Somebody needs to get over himself.

Sometimes I'll join AE teams if nothing else is going on, or it sounds like they're doing something interesting. So I joined one tonight, when the leader broadcast "looking for more".
He said something about inf, and I thought he was one of those who pays people to help test missions. I've seen that before. Since you don't get xp or other rewards in test mode, some people will give out inf in exchange for others helping them test missions.
This turned out not to be the case. Nooo. As soon as I entered the mission, he opened a trade window and demanded 10 million inf, quite rudely.
I quit right then. I remember people used to pay others to act as bridges during the old sidekicking/exemping days, but I thought that had pretty well dried up.
And Isis knows I've done lots of AE missions, both farm and non farm, and nobody has ever demanded inf from me, nor have I asked anyone else for inf to join any team I ran.

So how common is this business of paying millions of inf for the privelege of joining a team?
I dunno if it was a farm or not- the leader didn't say, and I didn't stay long enough to find out. It didn't look like the maps usually used for farming.
Is charging inf for teaming very common, and is it generally considered a positive thing?

I had to laugh when somebody else publicly called out that team leader, suggesting he was a hypocrite- apparently he's been on lots of other people's farm/pl/plain AE mission runs, and he's never paid a cent of inf to them, but asks millions from others.

I got the first one given away at random by Beastyle on Freedom today, now I have a Peregrine Falcon (as close as I could get), and another character looks like she's been possessed by Sekhmet!